Statement by the Support Group for Chiou Ho-shun's Pardon

Today (April 7) at 2:00 PM, the Support Group for Chiou Ho-shun's Pardon submitted a petition for a presidential pardon to the Office of the President. Coinciding with Chiou Ho-shun's 60th birthday, the group respectfully urged President Tsai Ing-wen to grant a pardon and release Ch'iu, who has been imprisoned for 31 years. This is to ensure his physical safety, rectify a miscarriage of justice, and realize judicial justice.

On March 9 of this year, the Support Group for Chiou Ho-shun's Pardon invited domestic and international figures from the legal, political, academic, arts and cultural, and religious sectors to jointly petition the President for Chiou Ho-shun's pardon. In less than a month, 327 public figures have successfully signed the petition, along with 60 domestic and international civil society organizations from 28 countries. Furthermore, petitions initiated by various support groups for the Chiou Ho-shun case and Amnesty International have garnered 27,307 signatures across 39 countries and regions worldwide as of the submission of this petition.

Among the co-petitioners, in addition to civil society organizations, scholars, and lawyers who have long supported the exoneration of Chiou Ho-shun, are international Covenants review committee members, members of the Presidential Office Human Rights Consultative Committee, current legislators and city councilors, Golden Horse and Golden Bell Award-winning directors, religious leaders, and other prominent figures in society who have all expressed their support for pardoning Chiou Ho-shun.

Chiou Ho-shun has endured 23 years of pretrial detention during trial proceedings (the longest in the world) and 8 years of imprisonment following a final judgment, totaling 31 years behind bars. Having just turned 60 today, Ch'iu has long suffered from numerous health conditions such as heart disease, hypotension, skin diseases, and tooth loss. For someone who has reached the age of 60, this constitutes extremely inhumane treatment, raising grave concerns over whether Ch'iu can hold out until the day his wrongful conviction is redressed.

In addition, the unfair trial in this case—characterized by coerced confessions extracted through torture, lost evidence, contradictory evidence, a judge's failure to recuse, and acts of torture—has not only been successively highlighted in impeachment and investigation reports by the Control Yuan, extraordinary appeals filed by the Prosecutor-General, concluding observations and recommendations of the National Reports on the Covenants, and problems pointed out by a simulated Asian Court of Human Rights composed of transnational human rights scholars, but has also drawn attention and support from internationally renowned organizations such as Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). This is why the petition for a pardon this time has received such a broad response from all sectors of society.

As long as Chiou Ho-shun's unjust imprisonment continues for even a single day, the violation of his human rights does not cease for a single day. Therefore, we earnestly implore the President to take into consideration Chiou Ho-shun's health condition, as well as the grievances and unfair trial he has suffered, and exercise the power of pardon vested in the President by the Constitution to grant Ch'iu a full pardon, allowing him to realize freedom 31 years overdue.

Issuing Organizations

Chiou Ho-shun Case Pro Bono Defense Team
Judicial Reform Foundation
Taiwan Association to End the Death Penalty Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Taiwan Innocence Project
Covenants Watch
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Amnesty International Taiwan